Stargate SG-1 & Atlantis - Far Horizons

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Stargate SG-1 & Atlantis - Far Horizons Page 34

by Sally Malcolm


  And he, Radek, would what? Watch? Cower in the closet while the Wraith killed Teyla’s son? If he pushed the door open, if he ran, the Wraith might pursue him instead…

  With a snarl the Wraith stepped forward, feeding hand outstretched as he reached for T.J.

  Who wasn’t there. He was actually six feet away, knife in hand, turning to slash at the Wraith’s leg, the point scoring a long gash that would have hamstrung a human.

  Radek blinked. He was certain he had seen T.J. in the middle of the corridor. He couldn’t possibly have moved that fast.

  The Wraith looked equally bewildered, whirling on its wounded leg with a roar.

  And T.J. was gone again. He was standing twenty feet down the corridor watching calmly.

  The Wraith charged toward him. He grabbed the front of his shirt with his feeding hand, lifting him off his feet…

  … as T.J. sunk the knife almost to the hilt in his back, twisting it free brutally as he jumped back from the Wraith who clutched at nothing. Blood spurted for a moment, then ceased as the Wraith healed.

  T.J. backed away, his profile to Radek as he stood his ground.

  “How did you do that?” the Wraith demanded. “Speak, human!”

  “You could answer your own riddle if you would,” T.J. said. A white mist began to rise about him, smoke filling the corridor, dense and almost opaque.

  Radek took a breath before he thought better, but it did not burn in his lungs. It had no smell. Almost as if it were not there.

  “What are you?” the Wraith bellowed again somewhere in the mist.

  T.J’s voice came from far down the corridor. “A Wraith named Michael killed to find that out. What makes you think you can guess?”

  The Wraith screamed, fury and pain intermingled, and Radek guessed that T.J. had stabbed him again.

  “What’s your lineage, Wraith?” T.J.’s voice was almost beside him, just outside the door. “Not Osprey, or you would see through the mist. Illusions are the Gift of her children.”

  There were scuffling sounds, another grunt as though the Wraith had taken a body blow. Radek could see nothing except vague shapes moving in the smoke. Perhaps they were fighting? Perhaps T.J. had struck and moved away again.

  “What are you?” the Wraith shouted.

  “I am an impossible thing. I am a blade of Atlantis.”

  “There is no… such… thing…” The Wraith’s words came in gasps. Another grunt, another scuffle in the smoke.

  “There is.” T.J.’s voice was far off to the right, echoing in the corridors. Or was it? Perhaps it was to the left. “The son of a human Queen, inheritor of the Gift from both parents alike. I am what Michael wanted. I am what the Ancients sought — a human with all the gifts of a Wraith save longevity — who never has to feed.”

  Another blow, a scream, the sound of someone falling. Radek strained to see, pressing the door a little further open.

  The Wraith’s voice was thready. “You… are… not… possible.”

  “I am.” T.J.’s voice was serene. “Mercy.”

  And then there was silence.

  Radek shoved at the door, tumbling out into the corridor.

  The mist cleared suddenly as if it had never been. The Wraith lay dead on the floor, T.J. kneeling beside him, head bent.

  “Are you…” Radek began.

  “I am uninjured.” T.J. got to his feet heavily, looking down at the dead Wraith by his feet. “I don’t like to kill.”

  “He’s Wraith!” Radek said.

  “And I am not?”

  Radek took a sudden, uncertain breath. T.J. held a bloody knife in his hand, his long, dark hair straight as the Wraith’s, pulled back in a clasp of steel flowers, his dark eyes shadowed.

  “He was a brave man, and he would have killed me if he could have, so it had to be done. But there are fine lines between us and our enemies.” T.J. met his eyes. “You told me that again and again, Dr. Zelenka. You told me there are lines on a map, lines like curtains of steel that divide us, but when we look into the heart of the Other what we will see is ourselves.” T.J. glanced back at the body on the floor. “We are more alike than different, this scout, this blade of Night who took this mission behind enemy lines. It had to be done. And I have done what I had to do.” He wiped his knife on the hem of his shirt and sheathed it. “So let us go on and do what we came to do.”

  “Yes,” Radek said, and turned away to follow him.

  They came to the Chair room a few minutes later, Radek entering the code cautiously to open the door, just as he’d set the code before the last time he’d left. It was empty as he had hoped, the naquadah generator and the rest of the equipment clustered near the open floor panels. Radek took a deep, relieved breath.

  “Everything in order?” T.J. asked. He was looking down the corridor outside, that listening expression on his face again.

  “Yes,” Radek said. “And now I may turn my radio back on and get to work.” He paused. “Are there Wraith near?”

  “No. But I hear footsteps.” He backed into the room, letting the door close and lock automatically behind them. “If it is your people, I am simply one of the Athosians.”

  “Of course,” Radek said.

  The door did not open. No one knocked.

  Radek looked at T.J. “Wraith?” he asked.

  T.J. shook his head. “No.”

  “Then I will open it.” Radek keyed the door open.

  Jinto and Lt. Draper were standing just outside, apparently conversing in furious whispers.

  “Hi,” T.J. said.

  They scurried inside. “We hoped you’d made it,” Draper said. “If not, we were going to backtrack.”

  “We are here and quite alright. You have accomplished your mission,” Radek said.

  “What mission?” Rodney McKay popped out of a side door to the Chair room wiping his hands on his pants.

  Jinto boggled.

  Rodney looked at Lt. Draper, and Radek gulped. Any second now Rodney was going to realize that he didn’t know her and he should know all the science personnel. Any second now Rodney was going to guess there was something wrong. The best defense was a good offense.

  “Getting me here to help you with the Chair since you are obviously not capable of doing it yourself,” Radek said. “Also I thought you were handling the jumper. What are you doing here?”

  “You didn’t answer your radio and the Chair was still offline so I thought you were dead or something,” Rodney said. “It took you long enough to get here. Did you get lost?”

  “I did not get lost,” Radek snapped. “I was pursued by the Wraith. Fortunately I ran into some Athosians who escorted me here. And where have you been?”

  Rodney knelt down beside the naquadah generator. “I was in the rest room.”

  “Well, that is obviously so important,” Radek retorted, doing his best to needle Rodney and thereby keep his attention. “While I was being pursued by Wraith, you have been loafing around.” He caught T.J.’s eye over Rodney’s head, a gesture he hoped conveyed everything he could not say in front of Rodney. “Thank you for the assistance. It is greatly appreciated.”

  “Sure thing, doc,” Jinto said, edging Lt. Draper back into the hallway, since she was the one most likely to attract Rodney’s attention in her science jacket.

  T.J. followed, meeting his eyes and nodding as formally as Teyla. Everything Radek wanted to ask him must remain unsaid, every question that begged for attention. He would never know — no, yes he would. It would take many years for all of his questions to be answered, but he knew now that they would be. He would survive this siege. And he would have decades to learn Atlantis’ secrets.

  “I’ll see you around,” he said with a smile, and put his trust in the future.

  OUR A
UTHORS

  Sabine C. Bauer

  Sabine C. Bauer started writing Stargate SG-1 fan fiction in 1999. Her first professional novel, STARGATE SG-1: Trial By Fire, was published by Fandemonium in 2004. Since then she has written a second SG-1 novel, STARGATE SG-1: Survival of the Fittest, took a field trip into the Atlantis universe with STARGATE ATLANTIS: Mirror Mirror, and most recently published the SG-1/Atlantis crossover STARGATE SG-1: Transitions. She also edited several novels for Fandemonium and other publishers and wrote a number of short stories, including of course ‘When On Earth’. She lives on the Canadian west coast and works as a writer, translator and editor.

  Diana Dru Botsford

  Diana Dru Botsford writes for television, novels, web series, the stage, and graphic novels. Author of the Stargate novels STARGATE SG-1: The Drift and STARGATE SG-1: Four Dragons, she also created and executive produced the award-winning science fiction web series, “Epilogue.” Her television credits include “Rascals” for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Botsford has crossed the globe from Japan to Africa to Antarctica — always in pursuit of great stories. Find out more at dianabotsford.com

  Geonn Cannon

  Geonn Cannon is the author of over twenty novels, including STARGATE SG-1: Two Roads, as well as numerous short stories which can be found for free at his website (geonncannon.com). The first time he traveled out of his home state was to attend the 2004 Stargate convention in Vancouver. He lives in Oklahoma.

  Keith R.A. DeCandido

  Keith R.A. DeCandido is the author of a metric buttload of fiction. A large percentage of it is in various licensed universes, though he’s got plenty in worlds of his own making as well. His recent work includes the Star Trek coffee-table book The Klingon Art of War; the Sleepy Hollow novel Children of the Revolution, based on the TV series; the Farscape comics trade paperback The War for the Uncharted Territories; the Firefly: Echoes of War role-playing game module “Merciless”; the novel Mermaid Precinct, the latest in his high fantasy/police procedural series of novels and short stories; the short-story collections Ragnarok and Roll: Tales of Cassie Zukav, Weirdness Magnet and Without a License: The Fantastic Worlds of Keith R.A. DeCandido; and short fiction in the anthologies V-Wars Volumes 1 and 3, Bad-Ass Faeries: It’s Elemental, Tales from the House Band Volumes 1 and 2, Out of Tune, Defending the Future: Best Laid Plans, and an upcoming X-Files anthology. In addition to fiction writing, Keith is a freelance editor, a contributor to Tor.com, a second-degree black belt in karate, a prolific podcaster (most notably The Chronic Rift and his own monthly ’cast Dead Kitchen Radio), and probably some other things he’s forgotten due to the lack of sleep. Find out less at his web site at DeCandido.net, which links to his entire online footprint, thus simplifying the tasks of cyberstalkers everywhere.

  Peter J. Evans

  Peter J Evans was born in southern England and has been there ever since, although not entirely by choice. He wrote his first novel in 1999, and since then has completed nine more that the world knows about, including STARGATE SG-1: Oceans of Dust and STARGATE ATLANTIS: Angelus, plus an undisclosed number that must never be seen or mentioned again. During daylight hours Evans does something terribly complicated involving navigational radar, while at night he listens to Japanese pop songs and writes horror stories. He has heard of sleep, but only as an abstract concept.

  Jo Graham

  Jo Graham is one of the authors of the STARGATE ATLANTIS: Legacy series, as well as STARGATE ATLANTIS: Death Game and STARGATE SG-1: Moebius Squared. With Melissa Scott, she is the author of the historical fantasy series The Order of the Air, a team adventure set in the 1930s. She is also the author of seven other fantasy and science fiction novels. She lives in North Carolina with her partner and their daughter.

  Amy Griswold

  Amy Griswold is the author of STARGATE SG-1: Heart’s Desire and the co-author of STARGATE ATLANTIS Legacy series novels The Lost, Allegiance, Inheritors, and Unascended. She has also written two gaslamp fantasy/mystery novels with Melissa Scott, Death by Silver and A Death at the Dionysus Club (Lethe Press). Find her online at amygriswold.livejournal.com or follow her on Twitter at @amygris.

  Sally Malcolm

  Sally Malcolm has written prolifically within the Stargate universe, penning novels, short stories, audio dramas, and video game scripts. Her Stargate novels include STARGATE SG-1: A Matter of Honor, STARGATE SG-1: The Cost of Honor, STARGATE ATLANTIS: Rising (novelization), and STARGATE SG-1: Sunrise (writing with Laura Harper, as J.F. Crane). Sally and Laura’s most recent title, STARGATE SG-1: Hostile Ground, was published in August 2014 and is the first in the STARGATE SG-1: Apocalypse trilogy. They are currently working on book two, due for publication in summer 2015. Follow her on twitter @Sally_Malcolm.

  Melissa Scott

  Melissa Scott was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, and studied history at Harvard College. She earned her PhD from Brandeis University in the comparative history program with a dissertation titled “The Victory of the Ancients: Tactics, Technology, and the Use of Classical Precedent.” She also sold her first novel, The Game Beyond, and quickly became a part-time graduate student and an — almost — full-time writer.

  Over the next twenty-nine years, she published more than thirty novels and a handful of short stories, most with queer themes and characters. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1986, and won Lambda Literary Awards for Trouble and Her Friends, Shadow Man, Point of Dreams (written with her late partner and collaborator, Lisa A. Barnett), and for Death By Silver, written with Amy Griswold. She has also been shortlisted for the Tiptree Award. She won a Spectrum Award for Shadow Man and again in 2010 for the short story “The Rocky Side of the Sky”. Her short story, “Finders,” has been selected for Year’s Best SF 2013. Her latest novels are Silver Bullet, written with Jo Graham, the third volume of The Order of the Air, and Fairs’ Point, the third full-length Points novel. Scott can be found on LiveJournal at mescott.livejournal.com and on Twitter as @blueterraplane.

  Her Stargate books are STARGATE SG-1: Moebius Squared (with Jo Graham) and STARGATE SG-1: Ouroboros and she is co-author with Jo Graham and Amy Griswold of the STARGATE ATLANTIS Legacy series.

  Suzanne Wood

  In the leafy greenness of the world’s most livable city, Melbourne, Australia, Suzanne lives and works surrounded by books. Author of STARGATE SG-1: The Barque of Heaven and the first official short story crossover between STARGATE SG-1 and STARGATE ATLANTIS for the Official Stargate Magazine, she is currently undertaking a Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing while working on two new original novels. She has long-standing interests in Egyptology, ballet and watching Aussie pro cyclists, a new-found passion for family and Australian history, and occasionally rescues stray dogs. Her website is www.suzannewood.net.

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